Eight days have passed since the hanging on Meishan Mountain.
It has been seven days since the surprise attack on Changping City.
It has been three days since Zhu Gaoyuan led the Ming army into the grassland.
Here Zhu Gaoyuan once again played a trick of surprise.
According to normal people's thinking, after severely injuring the Gongtu cavalry in the unknown valley, the Ming army would definitely flee back to the depths of Yanshan Mountain to avoid the revenge of the Gongtu cavalry.
But Zhu Gaoyuan did the opposite.
Instead of leading his army to escape back to Yanshan, he went deeper into the grassland.
Of course, before going deep into the grassland, he also made some false appearances in an attempt to mislead the pursuers.
However, just as Wu Sangui seriously underestimated the ambition of establishing slaves, Zhu Gaoyuan also seriously underestimated the Gongtu tribe's troop gathering speed and tracking ability.
Jin Xuan led dozens of riders to catch up from behind.
Zhu Gaoyuan turned his horse's head to face Jin Xuan and said in a deep voice: "How?"
"Hey!" Jin Xuan reined in his horse, bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, there are only thirty miles left!"
"How come the pursuers of the Gongtu Division come so fast?" Wang Jiayan said in disbelief, "Did the doubt formations we deployed in the nameless valley and along the way not work?"
Jin Xuan shook his head and said, "It probably didn't work."
"This is troublesome." Wang Jiayan frowned and said, "I will definitely be caught up by tomorrow morning at the latest."
Zhu Gaoyuan looked around at the endless grassland, and suddenly felt a little dry and panicked, but he knew better that he must not show panic at this time.
Not only must you not panic, but you must also act confident.
Otherwise, the morale that was finally built up will be lost.
If they lose even the last remaining bit of morale of a ragtag group of people who have wandered onto the grassland, there is only one outcome waiting for them, and that is to be hunted down one by one like rabbits by Gongtu's cavalry.
Zhu Gaoyuan did not want to be shot like a rabbit by the cavalry of the Gongtu Division on the Chahar Grassland.
"It's no trouble." Zhu Gaoyuan said calmly at the moment, "I had expected this."
"Huh? Huh? What?" Wu Linzheng, Meng Zhaoxiang and other officials all looked at him in astonishment.
Jin Xuan and Wang Jiayan looked elsewhere and tried to control the muscles on their faces, otherwise they were worried that they would not be able to help but sneer.
These two are knowledgeable soldiers,
Naturally, it can be seen that Zhu Gaoyuan is just pretending to be calm.
But at this time, stabilizing the morale of the military is more important than anything else, so we can't expose it.
"It's just two thousand Mongolian cavalry, no big deal." Zhu Gaoyuan pointed forward and said, "Did you see the river bend in front? The entire army entered the river bend and stationed camp!"
Since I can't run away anymore, I won't run away at all.
While there is still some time, hurry up and repair the fortifications.
If you fly a kite on the grassland, you will definitely not be able to catch the Mongolian cavalry.
That is to say, if you camp and defend, you can still compete with the Mongolian cavalry.
As for what to do next, it can only be done by ear.
…
At the northern foot of Yanshan Mountain, a settlement of the Gongtu tribe was attacked. More than a dozen yurts were burning, and dozens of herders were driven together. All of these herdsmen were women and children.
Hu Xinshui rode forward and looked down at the Gongtu women and children in front of him.
"Where are your men?" Hu Xinshui said sharply, "All of them are dead?"
The women protected their children behind them and looked at Hu Xinshui with frightened eyes.
Hu Xinshui didn't talk nonsense, just made a gesture, and immediately two barbarians rushed into the group of women and children, dragged out a young child, and dragged him to the carriage.
A Yiding pulled out a scimitar and pointed it at the wheel.
I found that the child's head could not reach the top of the wheel.
According to the rules of the Mongols, every time a tribe is conquered, adult men taller than a wheel can be killed. Children and women who are less than the height of a wheel cannot be killed and must be kept as slaves.
But Hu Xinshui doesn't want to abide by these rules at all.
Hu Xinshui nodded slightly, and Yi Ding wiped it lightly.
The young child, who was no taller than the wheel, had his throat cut immediately.
"Child, my child!" the mother who lost her child cried out heartbreakingly.
A cruel pleasure flashed across Hu Xinshui's eyes, and she asked with a ferocious smile: "Let me ask you again, where are the men in your tribe? Were they taken away by wild beasts?"
Still no one responded to Hu Xinshui.
Hu Xinshui nodded again, and two more Yiding rushed into the crowd and dragged out a young child.
"My child! No, no!" The mother of the young child also wailed heartbreakingly, trying desperately to rush forward and take her child back, but was kicked to the ground by the other two Yiding.
Seeing her child being dragged on the carriage wheel, the child's mother finally suffered a nervous breakdown.
"I said! I said!" the child's mother wailed loudly, "all the men were summoned to Baima River by the leader!"
"If I had said otherwise, this wouldn't have happened?" Hu Xinshui grunted, reined in his horse, turned around and shouted, "Let's go to Baima River."
In the blink of an eye, more than a thousand Yiding cavalry rumbled out of the settlement. Hu Guozhu couldn't suppress the doubts in his heart and chased after Hu Xinshui.
"Child, do you have many questions?" Hu Xinshui said with a kind face.
"Abba, how do you know that you can find out the whereabouts of Chongzhen from this small tribe?" Hu Guozhu asked blankly, "What if their men went to Baimachuan for other things?"
"Nothing bad happens," Hu Xinshui said firmly.
"At this time, Gongtu's large-scale gathering of troops can only be used to deal with the Ming army."
"It's still wrong." Hu Guozhu scratched his head and said, "Chongzhen couldn't be that stupid. He fled to Yanshan just for refuge, so he should have found an inconspicuous corner to hide. How could he provoke the Gongtu tribe?"
"Boy, you don't understand this." Hu Xinshui laughed and said, "Nine times out of ten things in the world are not going as planned. Chongzhen's son can't hide even if he wants to, because the Beijing soldiers from the three major battalions will not stop!"
Hu Guozhu said softly, seeming to understand.
…
On the other side, Li Yan has also led two thousand Qingqi to pursue them to the northern foot of Yanshan Mountain.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Although Li Yan's cavalry entered Yanshan later than Li You and Gu Kecheng's cavalry, they made the fastest progress. You will have discovered
Traces of the Ming army were discovered.
"That's right, it's them." Li Yan said, "They once settled here."
"Brother, come and see where you are!" Not far away, Li Mou suddenly shouted, "There are traces of battle here!"
Li Yan and Li Nian rode their horses to Li Mou. When they looked down at the ground, they saw many traces of the battle. In addition to messy hoof prints, broken arrows and lead, there were even residual blood stains.
"Brother, a fierce battle broke out here." Li Mou said, "Many people died."
Li Nian said: "Judging from the traces, it should be Mongolian cavalry attacking the Ming army's defense line in the valley."
Li Mou said: "The Ming army should have set up protective walls, and the Mongolian cavalry should have been defeated in the end."
Although the three brothers of the Li family are young, they have been in the army for five years since the twelfth year of Chongzhen. They are considered veterans in the true sense, so they can see many details.
Li Yan said: "None of this is important. What is important is where has Chongzhen gone?"
Li Mou turned over and dismounted, picked up two piles of horse dung from the ground, twisted it twice, and said: "There are two kinds of horse dung left in the valley, one is delicate and soft, and it is obviously made from refined grains. This must be the Ming army's war horses."
"And judging from the direction of the splashing of horse manure, the Ming army went west."
Speaking of this, Li Mou pointed to the vast Yanshan Mountains to the west with the riding whip in his hand.
Li Nian smiled and said: "Originally, Mr. Chongzhen wanted to hide here for a while, but something went wrong. He was discovered by the Mongolian cavalry, and the two sides fought here."
"Although the Ming army won in the end, they can no longer hide here."
"So Mr. Chongzhen can only lead the Ming army into Yanshan again and live the bitter and cold days."
After a pause, Li Nian said firmly: "Brother, Mr. Chongzhen has fled back to Yanshan, let's chase him quickly."
"Wait a minute." Li Yan always felt that something was not right, and frowned and said, "Don't you two find it strange? It's just that Chongzhen didn't know about such an obvious flaw as horse manure, but none of his civil servants and generals had it either.
A discovery? You didn’t know to remind Chongzhen to clean up the horse manure left along the way?"
"Brother, is it useless just to clean up the horse manure?" Li Nian said, "There are also various other traces, which can't deceive people."
"Second brother, do you want to say horse hoof prints?" After Li Yan finished speaking, he controlled the horse under his crotch to move backwards through the reins.
Because it had just rained a few days ago, the ground in the valley was still wet and soft. Wherever Li Yan's men and horses passed, they quickly left a clear line of horse hoof prints, but they were forward horse hoof prints.
Li Yan said: "Do you think I should go forward or backward?"
"Ah this?" Li Nian and Li Mou were stunned when they saw this.
Li Yan pointed to the horse dung and horse hoof prints left on the ground and said: "Seeing may not be true. It may be that the enemy deliberately left it for us to see. If we pursue it forward, we will be fooled by the Ming army!"
"This old man Chongzhen," Li Mou scolded, "is too cunning."
"Yes." Li Nian also said, "If it weren't for my brother, we would have been fooled."
"It may not be Chongzhen's idea." Li Yan said, "But that's not important."
After a pause, Li Yan said again: "The important thing is that Chongzhen must be captured as soon as possible."
Li Nian said: "Brother, if the Ming army did not enter Yanshan, they would have to look for traces again."
"No need to look any further." Li Yan said confidently, "I think I already know where the Ming army has gone."
After speaking, he pointed to the grassland in the north and said: "If I am not wrong in my judgment, Chongzhen should have led the Ming army deep into the Chahar grassland!"
